Monday, June 16, 2003

<Pagan> 

(Inside my Booth)



(Outside Booths, Inside Dressing Room)

The Booth

The booth is a 3 x 3 ft (approximately) box, in which we perform our job.

There are three fantasy booths in addition to the stage. The booths consists of one wall, two windows (one facing the hallway, and one facing the customer), and one door that opens to the dressing room.

On the left side of the window, facing the customer, there is a speaker through which you can talk to the customer. Fortunately, the customer can hear you even if you are away from the speaker. On the right side of the window, there is a screen that displays the first four letters of your name. It is great if your name is four letters. I go by Natalia at work, so my name reads Nata on the display. I probably would have changed by name if I knew this beforehand, because I constantly have to explain that my name is Natalia, not Nata. Then there are those guys who just can't get Natalia . . . so they end up calling me Natalie or Natasha.

I've known several girls who had really great and original names, but the customers could never pronounce them, or would get tongue tied, so the dancers would end of changing them. Sometimes, the simple . . . girl next-door names work the best. Also, if a customer calls from work to see if his favorite dancer is working, they can ask for Sara instead of Star.

Below the display, there are some buttons. When you show up for work, you enter a code with these buttons so that your name will come up on display. The booths are hooked up to a computer program that keeps track of the money going into the machine. The computer is on the counter out front and the clerks monitor it. At the end of the day, the clerks pay us out. They look at the computer and see how much money is under our name. Then they go to the booth and take the money out of the machine and count it to make sure it matches the amount on the computer. They take $20.00 off the top for our stage fee, and then we get half of the remaining balance.

There is also a buttom to clear the time, should the customer finish early, and a buttom to close out the booth at the end of the day.

When a customer gets a show, the amount of time he buys shows up on the display where your name normally is. This way, you can keep track of the time and remind the customer when his time gets down there . . . especially if he hasn't come yet. There's a real art in bringing this up. You don't want to be too blunt about it (or matter of fact) because the guy is likely to lose his train of thought . . . or even his erection. I usually move closer to the glass and tell them that I want to see them come . . . all over my pussy, or my ass ( which ever they're into more). Sometimes, I tell them to stroke it faster and harder and I put my mouth down by their cock and act like I'm licking it. This usually does the trick.

The maximum number of girls working a shift is three as there is only three booths. The first girl to arrive gets to pick her booth. The middle booth is the most popular. Some of the girls don't like the first booth because it is the closest to the front counter and I think they worry that some customers will want more privacy (especially the customers with the stranger fantasies) and might go to a different booth because of this. However, the first booth opens onto the stage and you can sit on stage and still be seen from the hallway. This is nice as the 3 x 3 ft box can be a bit claustrophobic. I don't have a favorite booth, although I often end up in the last booth because I'm often the last to show up, and most of the girls like this booth even less than the first one.

There are days when we are quiet and just keep to ourselves. Most of us bring in books and read in our booths. I used to light a candle and read and write next to it. Unfortunately, one day I lit my wig on fire when I leaned across the flame to talk to a customer through the speaker. I was able to put out the flame right away, but it scared me (and my customer) pretty bad, not to mention it ruined my wig and emitted some pretty toxic fumes. Not long after that, a chair mysteriously caught on fire in the dressing room and the fire department had to come and put it out. As a result, management forbids us to light candles, incense, etc.

On the days when the girls are feeling social, we talk to each other either through the walls of our booths, or we poke our heads out and talk that way, while our ass is facing the window to the hallway. The guys don't seem to mind.

Sometimes (when it's slow) we will climb into a booth together and play games. We play cards, mad libs, or just color with crayons. One time, Girl and I were really bored and we made a ouija board(sp?). We were working with Dezyre at the time, and she got really mad at us. She is very superstitious and went on and on about how we were "fucking around with bad shit" and that we might "wake up the ghost of the old dead guy." (the guy who died in the theatre) She seemed genuinely worried, so we stopped.

There are other times, when Girl will ask if I'll rub her neck or back . I'll climb into her booth and give her a nice massage. Sometimes, I'll even have her lay her head in my lap, while I rub her temples. We have procured a couple of two girl shows, while doing this.

I've heard stories that along time ago (when things were wilder) girls used to close their shade to the hallway, close the booth door and "hot box it" in their booth. Some of them would fall asleep afterwards and the customer would have to knock on the window to wake them up for a show.

Overall, I prefer the quiet moments in my booth. I like to bring things from home (blankets, pillows, etc) to make it more comfortable. Although, all I really need is a good book . I just started "Choke" by Chuck Palahniuk . . . pure genius. </Pagan> <!--2:51 PM-->

<Pagan> 

(Our lovely lockers)

Truth & Honesty

Syrenn finally came into work to clean out her locker. I was not there to say goodbye, but I heard she made quite an exit. She ripped her name off her locker and shredded it into many small pieces, which she threw about the room . . . all the while, saying, "Syrenn is dead, Syrenn is dead."

When her little ceremony was over, she gathered her things, exchanged numbers with some people, and left.

The girls at Fantasy (and probably most girls in the sex industry) are definitely multi-faceted and extremely interesting to work with.

For the first part of my adult life, I held a "normal" job. I worked for an insurance company for a while and eventually became an insurance adjuster (pretty funny . . . heh, heh). I handled the easy claims, i.e., first party (no liability), low exposure claims, as well as some PIP (Personal Injury Protection) claims. I found this job to be really interesting and challenging. However, I hated working PIP because the laws are so fucked up in Washington and the attorneys are assholes.

I eventually moved out of adjusting and transferred over to the corporate office in downtown Seattle, where I worked with senior management. I guess you would call this position Executive Assistant, or something along those lines. I found this work to be extremely boring and not very gratifying. The men I worked for had amazing egos, which required much attention. My desk was right outside the VP's office and he would often waste my time, calling me into his office to help him change his settings on his computer, or to show me his new web cam, or whatever new toy he had acquired

He often had other members of senior management in his office and I could overhear them talking about things they were going to buy (cars, houses, furniture, etc.), or trips they were going to take . . . blah, blah, blah. They would often all go to lunch together and walk by my desk in a big group. "We're going to lunch now . . . we'll be back in about an hour or so," my boss would say. They would all smile and wave goodbye as they filed by my desk.

My boss was nice enough and I got paid well. . . I just couldn't work with a bunch of good ole' boys, verbally snapping each other's asses like they were back in the high school gym locker room.

The other people in the office were nice too, but I always felt like they were trying to be something they weren't . . . trying to impress you.

I guess it was a nice surprise when I started working in the sex industry. It was the first time in my work experience that I actually felt people were being totally honest about themselves. I was surprised how vulnerable they allowed themselves to be.

They are so open and candid about their problems, disappointments, fears, shortcomings, etc. It is an environment in which you can be yourself and express yourself fully, and no one will judge you too harshly for it . . . well for the most part. Even strippers have their limits, but at least they are more likely to call you on it, instead of feeling bad about hurting your feelings.

I prefer truth and honesty and feel like it is somehow revealed here. </Pagan> <!--11:14 AM-->